Microsoft releases Windows Terminal 1.6 Preview complete with new Settings UI

It is only a few days since we let you know about an aesthetic change coming to Settings in Windows Terminal. Now the big day has arrived, and Microsoft has released version 1.6 of its powerful and versatile command line tool.

Windows Terminal 1.6 Preview is the first update to see the light of day in 2021, and while the new UI for Settings is the big news, there are plenty of other improvements as well.

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As we talked about recently, the change to Settings means that it now actually has a user interface rather than requiring users to edit a JSON file to make changes to the app. There is, however, a little configuration you need to do to access it -- see below for details.

Terminal 1.6 also sees the arrival of experimental support for HLSL pixel shaders, and in this version hyperlinks reveal themselves on hover even when the window isn't focused.

Writing about the latest version over on GitHub, Microsoft says:

• IN PREVIEW TODAY: Terminal now has an optional graphical settings editor! Until it's ready for prime time, it's hidden behind a NON-DEFAULT key binding. (#8048)
  • To bind the settings UI to Ctrl+Shift+,, add the following to your keybindings/actions.

{ "command": { "action": "openSettings", "target": "settingsUI" }, "keys": "ctrl+shift+," },

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  • The settings editor will become the default action for the Settings menu item and key binding in a future release.
  • Follow along at #6800 for completion stats and community feedback!

There are numerous other changes, fixes and improvements, including support for Startup Actions. It is also now possible to drag and drop a wider variety of items onto a Terminal window, and there are a large number of bug fixes -- full details of which are available on GitHub.

You can download Windows Terminal Preview v1.6.10272.0 here.